Marvel’s Secret Invasion event is in full swing and it helped boost sales in September with seven SI-related titles in the top 25.The lead title Secret Invasion #6, which was down just over 1,000 copies from the previous issue, was number one by a large margin.So far Secret Invasion has shipped on time and is clearly the major comic event of 2008.Two other Secret Invasion-related titles, New Avengers #45 and Mighty Avengers #18, also made the top five.

DC’s two top titles All Star Batman & Robin #10, which came in at number 4,and All Star Superman #12, which ended up in the 12th spot, were made returnable in October (All Star Batman & Robin was pulped and then reprinted, see “All Star Batman & Robin #10 to Be Destroyed”).

Both of Marvel’s new Stephen King-related titles, The Stand: Captain Trips #1 and Dark Tower: Treachery #1, did well, finishing at number eight and number nine respectively.The “New Ways to Die” storyline appears to be reviving Amazing Spider-Man, aided by great art by John Romita, Jr., two covers (50/50 ratio), and featuring some classic Spidey villains and the new Anti-Venom.

Nineteen out of the top 25 titles declined, versus just three that posted gains.Marvel had 20 out of the top 25 titles, while DC had four and Dark Horse one.The fact that DC’s Final Crisis event had a skip month in September and the absence of an issue of the very popular Batman RIP deprived DC of a number of spots in the top 25, but didn’t keep periodical comics from posting a 2% gain for the month (see “Comic Sales Up in September”).

Once again Watchmen topped the graphic novel list, and it wasn’t the only “evergreen” title in the top fifteen--a new edition of DC’s Kingdom Come came in at #6 and Image Comics’ Walking Dead Vol.1 ended up at #14.Brian Azzarello’s excellent 100 Bullets Vol.12: Dirty was the top new title followed by Dark Horse’s Star War: The Clone Wars graphic novel, which undoubtedly benefited from the August release of the Clone Wars animated feature.

Viz Media placed two manga titles in the top ten, Naruto Vol. 31 in fourth place and Bleach Vol. 24 at number 8.Dark Horse’s Berserk Vol. 25 was the only other manga title at number 18.

Fantagraphics' Love & Rockets: New Stories, which finished at #15, was the bestselling alternative release, while Gemstone’s Barks Rosa Collection Vol. 3 was the top all ages release at #24.

DC Comics had the most graphic novels in the top 25 with nine, followed by Marvel with five and Dark Horse with four.

Here are ICv2's estimates of the sales by Diamond Comic Distributors to comic stores on the top 25 comic titles in September:

164,440 Secret Invasion #6 (Of 8) SI*

117,807 Hulk #6*

103,326 New Avengers #45 SI

94,057 All Star Batman & Robin Boy Wonder #10*

90,799 Mighty Avengers #18 SI

86,851 Ultimates 3 #5 (Of 5)

82,883 Uncanny X-Men #502 MD

82,671 Stand Captain Trips #1 (Of 5)*

82,541 DarkTower Treachery #1 (Of 6)*

82,479 Amazing Spider-Man #570 NWD*

77,589 Buffy the Vampire Slayer #18

75,574 Captain America #42

75,164 Amazing Spider-Man #572 NWD

73,682 Amazing Spider-Man #571 NWD

70,423 All Star Superman #12

68,306 Detective Comics #848 RIP

67,418 Deadpool #1 SI

66,434 X-Men Legacy #216

64,952 Ultimate Origins #4 (Of 5)

64,911 X-Force #7

63,825 Green Lantern #34

60,444 Invincible Iron Man #5*

59,850 Deadpool #2 SI*

59,037 Avengers Initiative #17 SI

58,921 Secret Invasion Thor #2 (Of 3) SI

We are estimating actual sales by Diamond U.S. (primarily to North American comic stores), using Diamond's published sales indexes and publisher sales data to estimate a sales number for Detective Comics (Batman is normally the anchor title Diamond uses in its calculations, but no issue shipped this month), and using that number and the indexes to estimate Diamond's sales on the remaining titles.We can check the accuracy of our numbers by comparing the Detective Comics number that we calculate using multiple data points; our numbers for Detective Comicsare within 1/10 of 1% of each other, ensuring a high degree of accuracy.